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I do not think that Chinese, Korean and Japanese overachievement in this country is entirely genetic, for instance.

Ha! I met a Chinese woman yesterday who was explaining the effect these cultural stereotypes have on her family. She said that in general police officers, teachers, bosses, people in authority look at her as if she will yield to what they ask, even if unreasonable. They will ask her to move to another seat, do an undesirable task, etc. She struggles because culturally, she would not stand up for herself but would hope to earn respect by her actions.

She also said in school, her dd who is a junior has tremendous pressure on her to keep up with the other Asian kids and drives herself to an unhealthy level. The dd tells her mother that the younger sibs are not disciplined enough, not focused enough, etc.

This mom said she gets pressure from other Asian parents too. They tell her if she doesn't start violin lessons young, doesn't get them into the right sport, math tutoring, etc, her kids will not do well.

So the stereotype *is* true for most of the Asian parents in her circle. In general, most stereotypes have some truth to them, as social psychologist Lee Jussim has documented.